Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; Written by Himself. [Vol. 2 of 2]
With his Most Interesting Essays, Letters, and Miscellaneous Writings; Familiar, Moral, Political, Economical, and Philosophical, Selected with Care from All His Published Productions, and Comprising Whatever Is Most Entertaining and Valuable to the General Reader

By Benjamin Franklin

Page 108

I remember I thenentertained the same opinion of her that you express. On the strength ofyour recommendation, I purpose soon to wait on her.

"This is unexpectedly grown a long letter. The visit to Scotland and the_Art of Virtue_ we will talk of hereafter. It is now time to say that Iam, with increasing esteem and affection,

"B. FRANKLIN."[14]

[14] This letter was intercepted by the British ministry; Dr. F. had preserved a copy of it, which was afterward transmitted to Lord Kames; but the wisdom that composed and conveyed it was thrown away upon the men at that time in power.

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"_Lord Kames._

"London, February 21, 1769.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

"I received your excellent paper on the preferable use of oxen inagriculture, and have put it in the way of being communicated to thepublic here. I have observed in America that the farmers are morethriving in those parts of the country where horned cattle are used,than in those where the labour is done by horses. The latter are said torequire twice the quantity of land to maintain them and, after all, arenot good to eat--at least we don't think them so. Here is a waste ofland that might afford subsistence for so many of the human species.Perhaps it was for this reason that the Hebrew lawgiver, having promisedthat the children of Israel should be as numerous as the sands of thesea, not only took care to secure the health of individuals byregulating their diet, that they might be better fitted for producingchildren, but also forbid their using horses, as those animals wouldlessen the quantity

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'Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not then have
so much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable
families; for,
"Women and wine, game and deceit,
Make the wealth small, and the want great.

"--What would you
think of that prince, or of that government, who should issue an edict
forbidding you to dress like a gentleman or gentlewoman, on pain of
imprisonment or servitude? Would you not say that you were free, have a
right to dress as you please, and that such an edict would be a breach
of your privileges, and such a government tyrannical? And.